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  Zainab Bint Jahsh, may Allah be pleased with her, married the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in 5 AH, when they were thirty-five and fifty-eight consequently, after her pervious marriage, which had been arranged by the Prophet himself, had ended in divorce.

  As with all the marriages of the Prophet Mohammad, there was much for all the Muslims to learn from it.

  Zainab came from one of the noblest families of the Quraish, and everyone expected her to eventually marry a man with the same high social status. She was the Prophet’s  cousin. Her mother is Umayma, the daughter of Abdul Muttalib, Mohammad's grandfather, who had ensured the safety of his grandson, thanks to his position as one of the most respected leaders of the Quraish before his death.

  Islam had annulled class differences and declared that a family's tribe, wealth or social status is not the criteria of distinction. Every Muslim is equal. While announcing this principle, the Prophet implemented it actually by asking Zainab on behalf of a poor and “low” standing former slave. It was done in order to practically demonstrate the Islamic equality, which up to that moment, was to a large extent only a theoretical principle.

  In the same way, the Prophet was well aware that it is a person's standing in the eyes of Allah that is important, rather than his or her status in the eyes of the people. Man’s belief, piety and values are the parameter of ranking. He wanted her to marry the young and obscure Zaid ibn Harith, whose background was very different than hers.

  Zaid had been taken prisoner while he was still a child during one of the inter-tribal wars that was common before the coming of Islam. He had been sold as a slave to a nephew of Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) who had given Zaid to her as a gift. In turn, Khadijah gave him to Mohammad following their marriage in the days before the revelation of the Qur'an had begun.

  One day Zaid's father, after a long search, found his son and came to the Prophet (saws) with his uncle to take him back, but Zaid preferred to stay with the Prophet (saws) as a servant rather than go with his father as a free man. Therefore, the Prophet (saws) set him free and adopted him so that he was called Zaid Ibn Mohammad, until Allah descended this verse: “Call them after their fathers; this is more just with Allah,” (Quran 33:5).

  Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had watched both, Zaid and Zainab, grow up and thought they would make a good couple, and that their marriage would demonstrate that it was not who their ancestors were, but rather their standing in the sight of Allah, that mattered.

  When the Prophet asked her hand on behalf of Zaid, Zainab and her family were shocked at the idea. Moreover, it had not been a secret that Zainab, also her family, had wanted to marry the Prophet himself. Indeed, her family asked him already whether or not he would like to marry her.

  At first both she and her brother refused, but then the following Quranic verses were revealed: “It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger, to say in no; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has most clearly gone astray. (Quran 33:36)

  When Zainab understood that there was no difference between what the Prophet wanted and what Allah wanted, she and Zaid decided to get married and the Prophet provided her with a handsome dowry on Zaid's behalf.
The marriage, however, was not a success; it did not bring happiness to either Zainab or Zaid. Zainab, the lady of noble birth, was a good Muslim of a most pious
and exceptional quality. Zaid, the freedman, was among the first to embrace Islam, and he too was a good Muslim. Both loved and obeyed the Prophet, but their marriage was unsustainable because of their mutual incompatibility. They were very different and in the end they could not overcome the problem.

  Zaid found it no longer tolerable and on several occasions expressed the wish to divorce. The Prophet, however, insisted that he should persevere with patience and that he should not lose his wife. But, in the end, the divorce took place.

  In the midst of the continuing social reforms, the Qur'an had declared that adoption was not recognized in Islam, that the sons should be affiliated to their actual fathers. Allah says:

  “Allah has not made for any man two hearts in his breast, nor has He made your wives whom you declare (to be your mothers) as your (real) mothers, nor has He made those whom you call (as your sons) your (real) sons. These are (mere) words of your mouths, and Allah speaks the truth and He guides unto the (right) way. Call them after their fathers; this is more just with Allah, but if you know not their fathers, then they are your brethren in faith and your friends.” (Quran, 33:4-5)

  After this admonition, people started calling him "Zaid Ibn Harithah". But there was a need to put this new system in effect in such a way as to leave no room for doubt or ambiguity. Allah, therefore, ordered the Prophet to marry Zainab, the divorcee of Zaid.

  The Qur'an explains: “But when Zayd had concluded his concern with her (i.e. divorced her) we joined her in wedlock as your wife so that there should be no difficulty for the believers concerning the wives of their adopted sons when they have concluded their concerns with them, and the command of Allah shall be carried out,” (Qur'an, 33:37)

  In this manner, both marriages of Zainab served to enforce two very important social ethics.

  Some non-Muslim writers, especially in the west, have claimed that the Prophet had fallen in love with Zainab's beauty and that this was why Zaid divorced her.

  Such writers are blind to the fact that Mohammad did not fall in love with her when she was still a maiden and more young and when he himself was young.

  This reasoning is especially strange in view of the fact that Zainab was a close relative of the Prophet, and that there was no system of hijab at that time, and, in any case, relatives usually know about each other's beauty or ugliness. Moreover, Zainab family was more than welcoming for the idea of marrying their daughter to the Prophet.

  The Prophet was ordered by God to marry. In doing so, he demonstrated beyond doubt that in Islam an adopted son is not regarded in the same light as a natural son. And although a father may never marry a woman whom his natural son has married and then divorced, the father of an adopted son is permitted to marry a woman who was once, but is no longer, married to that adopted son.

  When Zainab heard the news of the revelation, she prayed to thank Allah. And allover her life, she was fond of pointing out that her marriage had been arranged in the heaven by Allah. It was at this point that the Prophet changed her name from Barra to Zainab.

  Zainab was a woman who was immersed in the worship of Allah most of the time. Once the Prophet entered the mosque and found a rope hanging down between two of the pillars, and so he said, "What is this?" He was told, "It is for Zainab. She prays, and when she loses concentration or feels tired, she holds onto it." At this time the Prophet said, "Untie it. Pray as long as you feel fresh, but when you lose concentration or become tired, you should stop."

  Zainab was with the Prophet for six years and lived for another nine years after his death, dying at the age of fifty, in 20 AH, and thus fulfilling the Prophet's indication that she would be the first of his wives to die after him.

  Zainab was very generous to the poor, and indeed the Prophet said, when speaking of her to his other wives, "She is the most generous among you."

  Once, Mohammad said to Omar: "Zainab is one who is full of prayer." A man said, "Messenger of Allah, what is that?" He said, "The one who is humble and earnest in prayer."

  A'isha, wife of the Prophet, also said about Zainab: "I have never seen a woman so pure as Zainab, so God-fearing, so truthful, so attentive to family ties, so generous, so self-sacrificing in everyday life, so charitable, and thus so close to Allah, the Exalted."

  Several years after the Prophet had died, when Omar was the Khalif, great wealth came to the Muslims as a result of their victories in fighting the Persians. The immense treasures of the Persian Emperor fell into their hands, and when Omar sent Zainab a pile of gold as her share of the treasure, she called her maid servant and told her to take a handful of it to so-and-so, naming one of the poor people of Medina each time.

  One after another, she named all the poor people whom she knew, until they had all received a share of the treasure. Then she told her maidservant to see what was left. All that remained of the large pile of gold was eighty Dinars, and this she gave to her maid, thanking Allah for it. But, because she believed so much money was a temptation, she asked Allah that she would never witness such a large distribution of wealth again.

  By the time a year had passed, when Omar again came to distribute money amongst Muslims, her prayer had been materialized for she had already passed away, may Allah be pleased with her.